External Development Director

The External Development Director at Electronic Arts leads the external production strategy, scaling global outsourcing capabilities and ensuring the vendor ecosystem meets operational, security, and creative standards. This hybrid role involves partnering with Production, Tech, and Creative teams to streamline vendor onboarding, optimize asset pipelines, and expand external capacity to meet content demands. The director will report to the Director of Production Operations and Technology.

Must Have

• Lead and scale the External Development function across content production, managing a global network of vendors.
• Oversee vendor activation and governance, ensuring partners meet EA's security, compliance, and workflow standards.
• Collaborate with Production, Tech, and Legal teams to simplify vendor onboarding and reduce activation timelines.
• Oversee I/O management, ensuring asset delivery, feedback loops, and approvals flow between teams and external partners.
• Establish and improve workflows across tools like Frame.io, Airtable, and asset management systems.
• Partner with Creative and Production leadership to forecast outsourcing needs and support capacity planning.
• Report performance and capacity metrics to senior leadership, identifying areas for efficiency gains.
• Identify bottlenecks and design scalable systems to improve delivery speed and quality.
• Mentor the External Development team, promoting collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• 6+ years of production experience in games, VFX, or creative content, with experience managing external vendors.
• Experience with vendor management, contract workflows, and content security requirements.
• Experience working with creative production tools and DCC applications (e.g., Unreal Engine, Maya, Photoshop, Motion Builder, Frostbite, Frame.io).
• Proven success building or scaling external development teams or programs across multiple franchises.
• Exceptional communication and relationship management skills.

Perks & Benefits

• 3 weeks vacation per year to start
• 10 days per year of sick time
• Paid top-up to EI/QPIP benefits up to 100% of base salary for new child (12 weeks for maternity, 4 weeks for parental/adoption leave)
• Extended health/dental/vision coverage
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Retirement plan
• Bonus and equity (for certain roles)
• Holistic approach to benefits programs (physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness)
• Healthcare coverage
• Mental well-being support
• Paid time off
• Family leaves
• Complimentary games

General Information

Role ID

211777

Worker Type

Regular Employee

Studio/Department

Marketing

Work Model

On Site

Description & Requirements

Electronic Arts creates next-level entertainment experiences that inspire players and fans around the world. Here, everyone is part of the story. Part of a community that connects across the globe. A place where creativity thrives, new perspectives are invited, and ideas matter. A team where everyone makes play happen.

EA Experiences

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Our EA Experiences group is dedicated to ensuring great experiences for our growing communities centered around our world-renowned brands, including fan-favorites like Apex, Battlefield, EA SPORTS FC, Madden NFL and The Sims, just to name a few. We're a multi-functional group, with world-class expertise building fandoms, driving interactive storytelling, and positioning our franchises at the center of the broader entertainment ecosystem. We inspire, connect, and engage fans through culturally relevant content, intentionally architected journeys across channels, and meaningful fan care. Our goal is to provide valuable, easy experiences that fans love – in our games, around our games, and through innovative adjacent experiences to grow and enrich how fans experience EA as we shape the future of entertainment.

Fan Growth

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EA’s Fan Growth organization is responsible for elevating the experiences customers get from our entertainment and maximizing their fun. We’re obsessed with the experiences our fans have with EA. We value people who bring new ideas and perspectives to make Fan Growth a great place to be and be from. We celebrate inclusion. It’s just as important for us to create great experiences for our people as for our players. We’re looking for people who will show up excited to work and ready for fun.

Summary

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The External Development Director leads our external production strategy.. This role is responsible for scaling our global outsourcing capabilities, ensuring our vendor ecosystem is operationally sound, secure, and creatively aligned with EA’s quality standards. You’ll partner closely with Production, Tech, and Creative teams to streamline vendor onboarding, optimize asset pipelines, and expand external capacity to meet growing content demands. This is a hybrid role with three days a week in office. You will report to the Director of Production Operations and Technology.

Responsibilities:

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• Lead and scale the External Development function across content production, managing a global network of vendors supporting creative, production, and technical pipelines.
• Oversee vendor activation and governance, ensuring partners meet EA's security, compliance, and workflow standards.
• Collaborate with Production, Tech, and Legal teams to simplify vendor onboarding, troubleshoot integration issues, and reduce activation timelines.
• Oversee I/O management, ensuring asset delivery, feedback loops, and approvals flow between our teams and external partners.
• Establish and improve workflows across tools like Frame.io, Airtable, and asset management systems to improve visibility, efficiency, and accountability.
• Partner with Creative and Production leadership to forecast outsourcing needs, balance internal vs. external resourcing, and support capacity planning.
• Report performance and capacity metrics to senior leadership, identifying areas for efficiency gains, cost optimization, and process improvements.
• Identify bottlenecks and design scalable systems to improve delivery speed and quality.
• Mentor the External Development team, promoting a culture of collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications:

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• 6+ years of production experience in games, VFX, or creative content, with experience managing external vendors
• Experience with vendor management, contract workflows, and content security requirements.
• Experience working with creative production tools and DCC applications (e.g., Unreal Engine, Maya, Photoshop, Motion Builder, Frostbite, Frame.io).
• Proven success building or scaling external development teams or programs across multiple franchises or product lines.
• Exceptional communication and relationship management skills—able to bridge creative, technical, and operational teams.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The ranges listed below are what EA in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in these locations at the time of this posting. If you reside in a different location, a recruiter will advise on the applicable range and benefits. Pay offered will be determined based on a number of relevant business and candidate factors (e.g. education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, or business needs).

PAY RANGES

• British Columbia (depending on location e.g. Vancouver vs. Victoria) *$111,600 - $152,800 CAD

In British Columbia, we offer a package of benefits including vacation (3 weeks per year to start), 10 days per year of sick time, paid top-up to EI/QPIP benefits up to 100% of base salary when you welcome a new child (12 weeks for maternity, and 4 weeks for parental/adoption leave), extended health/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement plan to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

We’re proud to have an extensive portfolio of games and experiences, locations around the world, and opportunities across EA. We value adaptability, resilience, creativity, and curiosity. From leadership that brings out your potential, to creating space for learning and experimenting, we empower you to do great work and pursue opportunities for growth.

We adopt a holistic approach to our benefits programs, emphasizing physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support a balanced life. Our packages are tailored to meet local needs and may include healthcare coverage, mental well-being support, retirement savings, paid time off, family leaves, complimentary games, and more. We nurture environments where our teams can always bring their best to what they do.

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider employment qualified applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.